Yeah Right

Song of the Week

Whitney and I hit up IOTA on Friday night to catch local band Juniper Lane and some opening band that sounded like Dave Matthews (not my cup of tea, obvs).  Juniper Lane put on a great show and are now a contender for my favorite local band in the post-Frustrations world.

The highlight of Juniper Lane's long set was an awesome cover of "Common People" by Pulp.  And it's the Song of the Week:

Five Star Friday

Each of the various ways in which artist can choose to tell a story have a different area in which they excell.  Novels allow authors to spend time exploring the inner feelings and motivations of their characters while musicians can use song to evoke the audience's feelings and emotions.  Films, meanwhile, (and to a similar extent, TV) struggle with complex character examination, but surpass anything else when it comes to depicting the outward expression of conflict and delivering visual impact.  Todays' FSF selection is pretty much a case study in what film can provide that no other medium can. It delivers conflict, style and gorgeous visuals by the fistful, and that more than makes up for the relative lack of character depth and the fact the underlying premise is one of the oldest known to man: revenge.

Behavioral Economics in Song

Check out the discussion over at Marginal Revolution.

Equal Parts Cool and Creepy

Want to control your iPod with your eyes?  Then this product is for you.

Hat tip: Tyler Cowen

As Allison would say, file under awesome...

Students at Ole Miss appear poised to change the school mascot from noted rebel leader "Colonel Reb" to even more noted rebel leader Admiral Ackbar.  Of course I'm a big fan of the original Star Wars trilogy and an alum of a school that uses Donald Duck for its mascot, so my opinion may be a bit skewed.

Genre-Bending Covers

Nobody does Nirvana quite like Paul Anka.  Call me crazy, but I think when you push cheezie-ness this far, it becomes kind of cool.  The others are worth checking out too.

Open Thread Thursday

Go!

Joanna Newsom

I've just purchased Joanna Newsom's new three-disc effort, Have One on Me. (Or so I understand that its three LPs or whatever -- looks to me like 261 GB.)    It's a lot to absorb, so give me awhile to get thoughts organized about it.  

In the meantime, check out this interview with her boyfriend Andy Samberg.  Yes, that Andy Samberg.  An unlikely mate for our pixie-voiced harp-wielding muse.   It's pretty funny:  ">We’re like John and Yoko, bro. She makes the weird shit, I make the cool shit everybody likes."

Also, I just came across a neat Aquarium Drunkard post about Karen Dalton, who definitely has some qualities shared by Newsom.  Read the blog entry and listen to the samples posted there (I especially dig "Something On Your Mind.")

Download These Songs Now (And Thank Me Later)

Janelle Monae - "Tightrope"

Tiesto feat. Tegan and Sara - "Feel It in My Bones"

Holly Miranda - "Everytime I Go to Sleep"

Broken Bells - "Vaporize"

She & Him - "In the Sun"

Illustrated Celebrity Tweets

Surely this is the weirdest thing you'll see today.